1. Crime in the US
3 minute writing
Consider the following:
1
2. The Question:
1. When a top government official
deliberately defies congress (lawmakers)
and finances a foreign conflict by selling
weapons illegally to a foreign power, is
that a crime?
2. If a government employee discovers the
activity and releases secret documents to
the public, is that a crime?
2
3. The Example:
1. In the Iran Contra affair President Regan
knew of and supported a covert effort to
sell arms to Iran (illegal), and use the
money to support the Contras of Nicaragua
(illegal).
2. Edward Snowden recently released and is
still releasing secret NSA documents that
show illegal bugging of the United
Nations, and numerous embassies as well
as Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.
3
4. The Crime Clock should be viewed with care. The most aggregate representation of UCR
data, it conveys the annual reported crime experience by showing a relative frequency of
occurrence of Part I offenses. It should not be taken to imply a regularity in the commission
of crime. The Crime Clock represents the annual ratio of crime to fixed time intervals.
4
5. • According to Konradi and Schmidt (2005)
Crime rates are higher now than in the
1950s (due to a spike in the 1960s).
• They state that since the early 1970s crime
rates have been very stable. But a glance at
some graphs from the Department of Justice
actually show a drop in crime since the
early 1990s.
5
9. There are two widely accepted measures of
crime in the US. They are:
• Uniform Crime Report (now called the FBI
Crime Index) the most widely used index.
• National Crime Victimization Survey
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10. They don’t agree very much. According to
Konradi and Schmidt the UCR tends to over
state crime because it reports the number of
arrests (more than one person can be
involved in a singe crime). Also, due to
funding based upon arrests, the police are
liable to overstate conditions of crime.
10
11. However Leon-Guerrero (2005) note that
the number of crimes committed is higher
than the number of crimes reported (by the
police). Think Crime Victimization Survey.
What do you think?
11
13. Predatory Crime
• Victims who suffer loss of property or some kind
of physical harm.
• Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter.
• Aggravated assault.
• Forcible rape.
• Robbery
• Burglary
• Larceny-theft
• Motor vehicle theft
• Arson.
13
14. More types of crime:
• Illegal service crimes (drugs, gambling,
prostitution).
• Public disorder crimes (disorderly conduct,
drunkenness).
• Crimes of negligence (unintended victim).
• Computer crime.
• White collar crime.
• Cybercrime (cyberbullying, hacking,
obscenities, investment fraud, identity theft)14
15. White Collar Crime costs the United States
cost about 300 billion dollars annually.
This is more than street crime does.
15
16. White Collar Crimes
• Personal or ad-hoc crimes
• Abuses of trust
• Crimes that are incidental to and in
furtherance of organizational operations
• Crimes carried on as a business by full-time
con-artists.
16
17. Most serious crimes are committed by powerful
wealthy people, referred to by criminologist
James W. Coleman as the criminal elite, and
those crimes are clearly rooted in economic
and social factors. Wealthy people are
generally socialized to believe in the
importance of continuously increased wealth
accumulation…
John C. Alessio (2013-01-28)
17
18. Index crime data typically are available on
middle and lower class people only. The lack
of systematic information about upper class
involvement in index crime has resulted in
criminologists referring to “crimes of the rich”
and “crimes of the poor,” which is another
form of the simplistic dualism mentioned
earlier. While there can be no doubt that there
are crimes committed exclusively by the rich,
there is no reason to believe the amount of
their participation in index crimes is any less
than the participation of people from the other
classes.
John C. Alessio (2013-01-28)
18
35. Organized Crime
1. The determination of a group of people to
make money by any means necessary.
2. The provision of illegal goods and
services to people who want them or can
be coerced into taking them.
3. The use of political corruption to maintain
and extend the activities.
4. The persistence of the activities by the
same organizations over successive
generations of people.
5. A code of conduct for members.
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36. Juvenile Delinquency
• First juvenile court was established in 1899 in
Chicago.
• Three types of juveniles under the juvenile court
jurisdiction:
– Youthful offenders – those who engage in behavior for
which adults can be tried in a criminal court.
– Status offenders – those who violate the juvenile court
code
– Minors in need of care – those who are neglected or
abused and in need of the court’s care.
36
37. Juvenile Gangs
• Are now pervasive
• Causes include
– Poverty
– Discrimination
– Lack of opportunity
– Status
– Security against other gangs
37
38. Why Crime?
Differential Association Theory
(Edwin Sutherland, 1883-1950)
• Association of norms among criminals and
potential criminals.
• Sub cultural norms.
• Affects both street crime and white collar
crime.
38
39. Why Crime?
Structural Strain
(Consider Robert K. Merton)
• Lack of opportunity
• Rigid class structure
• And Durkheim’s theory of Anomie
• Labeling theory
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47. Young people commit more
violent crimes than older people.
Why?
• 12-15 55/1000
• 16-19 56/1000
• 20-24 45/1000
• 25-34 29/1000
• 35-49 23/1000
• 50-64 10/1000
• 65+ 3/1000 47
48. Family income has a direct effect
too. Explain why.
• Less than $7,500 47/1000
• $7,500-$14,999 37/1000
• $15,000-$14,999 32/1000
• $25,000-34,999 29/1000
• $35,000-49,999 26/1000
• $50,000-$74,999 21/1000
• $75,000+ 18/1000
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49. Racial and ethnic minorities commit
more crimes than the dominant whites.
Is this group the “underclass?”
Think about what this might mean in terms of
class position, race, and ethnicity in the US.
Consider:
1 Who makes the laws?
2 Who breaks them?
3 Who do the laws serve?
4 Why are laws broken?
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50. Crime in Salinas 2008
• Salinas 17 homicides per 100,000 people
(with a population of 145,000 per census
bureau).
• San Francisco 12 homicides.
• San Jose 3 homicides.
• Los Angeles 10 homicides.
• Chicago 18 homicides.
• Oakland 31 homicides.
(KCBA.COM)
50
52. The United States does not have the highest
crime rate of all developed nations—
although it does have the highest homicide
rate.
Why might this be? Consider the following:
52
53. (from Eitzen, 2007)
• Countries where there is a wide gap
between the rich and the poor have the
highest levels of violent crime.
• The greater proportion of the population
living in poverty, the higher the rate of
violent crime.
53
54. • Violent crime is worse in those societies
with weak “safety nets” for the poor.
• The war on drugs has exacerbated
organized crime in drug dealing (violent
crime).
• The greater availability of guns (250 million
for a population of 300 million)
54
55. If the US does not have the highest
crime rate of all industrialized
countries, why then does it have
the highest rate for incarceration?
See following slide.
55
65. Wage theft is widespread and
pervasive across all types of
companies. Various surveys have
found that:
From Bobo, Kim (2008-12-09). Wage
Theft in America: Why Millions of
Working Americans Are Not Getting Paid
- And What We Can Do About It (Kindle
70. Who else commits crimes?
Can a government commit crimes? If
it is a legitimate power, then how can
it?
But then again, just what is
legitimacy?
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71. Wounded Knee, 1890 between 150 and 300
Sioux murdered
71
An 1890 massacre
[by the US Calvary]
left some 150 Native
Americans dead, in
what was the final
clash between
federal troops and
the Sioux.
Nearly half of the
Sioux killed at the
1890 Wounded
Knee massacre were
women and
children.
http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee
72. 72
My Lai Massacre in Vietnam 1968
Estimated civilian
deaths committed by
US soldiers are over
500.
73. My Lai Massacre in Vietnam 1968
73
Time magazine's
article on November
28, 1969 and Life
magazine on
December 5, 1969,
finally brought My
Lai to the fore of the
public debate about
Vietnam War.
74. 74
My Lai Massacre in Vietnam 1968
Richard L. Strout, the Christian Science Monitor political commentator,
emphasized that, "American press self-censorship thwarted [army helicopter pilot
and whistleblower] Ridenhour's disclosures for a year." "No one wanted to go into
it", his agent said of telegrams sent to Life, Look, and Newsweek magazines
outlining allegations.
75. Bosnian Massacre
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"more than 8,000
Muslim men and boys"
executed and "nearly
25,000 women, children
and elderly people were
forcibly deported,
making this event the
biggest war crime to
take place in Europe
since the end of the
Second World War".
European Parliament resolution of 15
January 2009 on Srebrenica,
76. Waterboarding
76
A 2005 Justice
Department opinion
provided explicit
authorization to barrage
terror suspects with a
combination of painful
physical and
psychological tactics,
officials said.
October 4, 2007
washingtonNews
(In NYT, 2015)
Crime?
77. Waterboarding
Mr. Kiriakou, who first came to
public attention in 2007 when he
spoke publicly about waterboarding,
is one of eight current or former
government employees prosecuted
by the Obama administration for
disclosing secrets to reporters; only
three such cases were prosecuted
under all previous presidents. NYT
2015
77
Treason?
Update: he served
2 and ½ years – See DN
http://www.democracynow.
org/2015/2/9/exclusive_free
d_cia_whistleblower_john_
kiriakou
78. The Question
1. When a government (administration)
deliberately defies congress (lawmakers)
and finances a foreign conflict by selling
drugs, is that a crime?
2. If a government employee discovers the
activity and releases secret documents to
the public, is that a crime?
78
79. Which one of these should be punished?
1. In the Iran Contra affair President Regan
knew of and supported a covert effort to
sell arms to Iran (illegal), and use the
money to support the Contras of Nicaragua
(illegal).
2. Edward Snowden recently released and is
still releasing secret NSA documents that
show illegal bugging of the United
Nations, and numerous embassies as well
as Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry.
79
88. Guadalupe Salazar, a McDonald’s cashier
who says her paychecks were missing
overtime wages.
Credit Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
89. “Sometimes I’d work 60, even
90 days in a row,” said Mr.
Rangel, a soft-spoken
immigrant from Mexico. “They
never paid overtime.”
90. [A Riverside County] lawsuit is part of a
flood of recent cases — brought in California
and across the nation — that accuse
employers of violating minimum wage and
overtime laws, erasing work hours and
wrongfully taking employees’ tips. Worker
advocates call these practices “wage theft,”
insisting it has become far too prevalent. LA
Times, 5/5/15
WAGE THEFT – REAL? YOU BET.
92. •60 percent of nursing homes stole workers’ wages.
•89 percent of non-monitored garment factories in Los
Angeles
•67 percent of non-monitored garment factories in New
York City stole workers’ wage.
•25 percent of tomato producers
•35 percent of lettuce producers
•51 percent of cucumber producers
•58 percent of onion producers,
•62 percent of garlic producers hiring farm workers stole
workers’ wages
•78 percent of restaurants in New Orleans stole workers’
wages.
•Almost half of day laborers, who tend to focus on
construction work, have had their wages stolen
•100 percent of poultry plants steal workers’ wages. Bobo,
93. Wage Theft
• The Economic Policy Foundation, a
business-funded think tank, estimated that
companies annually steal $19 billion in
unpaid overtime.
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